To help people when they are potentially the most open to treatment following a substance abuse issue, CVS Health announced it is enhancing the “Guardian Angel” program, designed to assist individuals who suffer an opioid-related overdose.
In North Carolina specifically, the Guardian Angel program will now be supported by CVS Health’s collaboration with Unite Us, a social care coordination platform. Through this combination, officials announced, clinical case managers can use the Unite Us network of social services to connect individuals with non-clinical support that can aid their recovery, such as community resources to help with housing, food insecurity and financial assistance.
Since the Guardian Angel program was launched by Aetna, a CVS Health company, in 2018, clinical case managers have connected with nearly 1,000 Aetna members who have suffered an overdose as well as their families, providing education and resources around the effectiveness of evidence-based addiction treatment. Members who have been contacted live in every part of the country and range in age from 16 to 79 years old, with an average age of 45.
The clinical case managers that participate in the Guardian Angel program will also be a part of the NCCARE360 network in North Carolina. According to officials, NCCARE360 is the first statewide network that unites healthcare and human services organizations with a shared technology, Unite Us, that aims to enable a coordinated, community-oriented, person-centered approach for delivering care. NCCARE360 is planned to be available statewide in North Carolina by the end of 2020.
“The Guardian Angel program already has a high engagement rate of about 50 percent because it connects with people in a compassionate way during the time when they need it most,” said Daniel Knecht, M.D., vice president, health strategy and innovation, CVS Health. “We recognize that whether a person is successfully able to fight addiction is not solely determined by the medical treatment that they receive. Through the Unite Us network of social care providers, people can more easily access support within their community and have a better chance of recovery.”
In addition to integrating the Guardian Angel and Unite Us programs in North Carolina, CVS Health and Unite Us also launched programs in New Orleans and Tampa Bay, Florida to help Aetna’s Medicaid and dual-eligible members more easily access social services within their community.
Working with Unite Us, Aetna’s Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plan (DSNP) members in these communities can receive help from a wide range of services through local organizations, such as transportation, food assistance and meal delivery, adult day care, employment services and housing support, among others, officials have said.
